Gold Investing
 

Has anyone here done any investing into gold? What can you tell me about it? Where do you buy? Where do you sell? Where do you store it? I'm sure there are lots of companies that will sell gold at a huge mark-up. Please tell me any tips. Thanks.

Bump. Does anybody have any input??

Check out this website:

http://www.blanchardonline.com/gold_..._investors.php

Is this site one you use and are familiar with?

Gold and silver
 

Many purchase from these guys:
http://www.nwtmintbullion.com/

http://www.bordergold.com/

http://goldprices.com/ this is a good link for viewing the daily price graphs (click on the options directly below each graph).

http://www.nwtmintbullion.com/gold_americaneagle.php this is a good link for seeing the sell and purchase prices. Don't sell at the Spot Price.

Do not sell and buy from your local pawn shop. They will do according to the "Spot Price." You will lose money. Use them only when desperate.

Dealers need to make money, so they sell for more than the gold is really worth. This is normal and should be expected.

Gold was once illegal to possess in this nation. Not too many years ago. It could happen again.

If you purchased gold and silver 5 years ago, you would have made more from your investment in silver.

If you purchase today (any day), you might make money in a day or year; but, you might also lose money if the price of gold goes down.

Many know that the price of gold and silver will go up and up and up. If your purchase goes down, just wait until it goes up again.

Gold is easier to store than silver as $700 of gold is one coin. $700 worth of silver is many coins - thus takes up more room and weighs much more.

Many are shifting over to silver as it seems to make for a greater profit.

If you have a $700 gold coin (American Eagle), and if this nation falls as it is expected it will, you might have a hard time finding someone with $700 to purchase your coin. Multiply that by how many coins you have. If you think you might barter your gold in a time of national distress, how are you going to split up your gold coin so it becomes small enough to barter?

You can purchase smaller gold coins from the dealers I mentioned above (the ones most used).

Silver coins would be much easier to sell in a time of distress. Besides, you can use the silver to make colloidal silver for ministering to your health needs during the coming time of national distress.

Storage: $7,000 worth of gold will be much easier to hide than $7,000 worth of silver.

If you store it in a bank, you might lose it. If you bury it, make sure you tell a family member where it is should you die. I know of a family that has their gold AND silver buried at the base of a tree - one of many trees on their forested 10 acres.

Houses burn down so loss could be sustained this way if you had it in your closet.

I know of someone that has their gold and silver in the pockets of the garments in the closet.

Cut a piece of thick walled PVC pipe to size. Cap both ends. Bury.

DO NOT TELL ANYONE (except A trusted family member) about your gold/silver "savings." Don't brag about it to anyone.

You might stash it in several places so if a loss happens, you will not lose it all.

If you purchase, ask the seller about the limit for each purchase that keeps you from being reported to the IRS. It is not illegal now to purchase, but you don't want the government having a record of your purchases. Limiting your purchase to maybe $9,000 might keep you below that threshold. Ask. Then purchase again at a later date or from a different dealer.

Often your gold will be shipped to you by UPS.

I hope this answers some of your questions.
Walk

Silver and gold have I none...

There are many places to buy or sell. The big problem as you note is the mark up (and mark down?)...they might sell you a higher value than what it is worth and buy back at a premium like stocks...

And now that gold is around 700 per ounce it's hard to buy a lot unless you have a lot.

One option are ETFs...you can buy gold indexed ETFs which selling price is indexed to gold...

if gold is 700 per ounce and ETF will be about 70 per "share".

Unlike stocks in minerals and precious metals, ETFs like this are really in gold. Stocks in minerals and PMs tend to be in the companies that mine gold or make the equipment.

I think some gold companies will hold the gold for you and issue you a certificate. If I had gold at home I would put them in a safety deposit box.

You can buy bullion or coins. In the past governments have made it illegal to own bullion for whatever reason but not coins because they are real currency I guess. Also coins carry with it the value often of the coin mint itself and not just the gold...the rarety of it etc etc...that is if you can get one like that...

I might be off on some places and I am sure there are others here that can do better.

Also you can invest in other metals besides gold. If you think gold will go up investing in the companies that deal with precious metals might be good too. I have seen mutual funds in PMs that had a year to day ratio of 25% or higher

Of and of course there is no gurantee gold will hold it's value and not go down

Thank you for the information. It is very hard to know where to even start on something like this. I feel that I can get information from "normal people" here and it will be more balanced than anything a company who is selling can churn out.

What are your opinions on investing in gold rather than say, mutual funds or real estate? (Obviously real estate has it's issues right now, but it is a buyers market and will probably be more so in time.)

Sorry, I have no suggestions here. I have no experience in those two realms.

Gold have I none... Silver I have. :)

I used to buy silver coins when I found an opportunity.

It is said that in times of severe depression that a silver dollar can possibly feed a family for a week because silver holds its value when fiat money fails.

It is also suggested to buy in American coins because the quality & weight are trusted and the coins are easier to sell. Buying gold or silver is not just about their current worth but also their ease of disposal should one find a time they want to sell them.

Of course this has already been covered very well before.

Be sure and buy coins from 1964 or before.

Also... don't buy the coins that are in excellent condition... part of their worth is their condition. Only the worth of the silver will be hold out if things take a down turn.

That is assuming collectors with money won't still want to buy them. One reason for a coins loosing value when in not good condition is also that it has lost it's metal content having been worn off. Buying certified coins like krugerands and US eagles etc etc and keeping them in their containers will ensure no degration in value due to wear.

Still baring the evil government banning bullion, might be better to buy some bars or ingots

Also I don't think the content of the silver in even pre-64 coins is over 90% silver. They dropped a lot less once they started minting coins over zinc and other stuff.

http://www.monex.com/prods/silver_coins.html

This place has american silver eagles and canadian silvers.... .999 silver content

I suspect silver has never been confiscated like gold either, huh?

Why only buy 1964 and before?

1964 was the last year that American coins were made with 90% silver.

If you take a 1964 quarter and spend it for something at the store then you have taken a coin that has an actual worth of probably $2-4 and you have traded it away for a mere 25 cents.

That is at current value. If the economy were take a drastic down turn the the value of the paper money you hold would fall drastically. That means that it would take far more worthless paper dollars to purchase one silver quarter or silver dollar because they hold an intrinsic value outside the value of the American dollar.

Assuming one could find a buyer for their silver (which is never a guarantee but American silver coins are among the easiest forms of silver to exchange) then they could trade that silver coin for far more paper dollars than they bought it for because the paper money has lost much of its worth since it is only backed by peoples trust in the dollar and has no intrinsic value of its own.

Another thing to consider is the Liberty Dollar. It is the 2nd most popular currency in America. If you have very many Liberty Dollar friendly stores in your area then you can use the Liberty dollar to trade at those stores. If the value of the dollar plummets (and the value of silver then soars) then you will be able to actually turn in your 10's for 20's because the value of the money you carry has maintained a value above that of the American fiat currency because it is back with silver & gold much like the US Dollar used to be backed.

You can read more at http://www.libertydollar.org

Do you feel it is better to buy silver than gold?

I buy silver myself because I can afford to buy silver. I cannot afford to buy gold.

But I also agree with many of the points made on other posts as well as to the ease of liquidation that I would expect to find in silver versus gold.

If I have gold then my potential liquidation clients would only be those who can afford to buy my gold.

That pool of individuals is much smaller than those who can afford to buy my silver.

So... silver is the medium of choice for me for those reasons. Everyone is different and everyones reasons for buying one or the other are different and there is no right or wrong answer.

But for me... American silver coinage is the preferred medium of exchange because I feel that, come time to liquidate, that this will be the most successful medium for that purpose.

As you wait a reply to your question, please keep in mind that this discussion about silver has gone in two different directions involving two different types of silver coins. One is the purchase of old USA silver coins, and the other is the purchase of 99.999% pure silver coins like the Silver Eagle.

Indeed...

And there are trusted 99.9% silver coinages out there that could enjoy a similar level of liquidation success (or maybe even better) as the 90% American coinage.

The Silver Eagle is one of those trusted sources where any buyer would have a good level of confidence in the true purity & weight of the silver.

Right.

Silver or Gold
 

To answer your question, we might need to know your goal or motive.

For instance:
Some collect/invest because they want a good solid investment that does not depend on the stock market nor the fragile condition of the economy in the USA. An investment that most assuredly will improve in value over time.

Some because they expect the USA and its economy to collapse any day now. They want a currency that will last beyond inflation driven "flat" money, and still have worth.

Some invest in gold and/or silver because they know, no matter what happens in the USA, gold and silver will still have value worldwide.

Some who expect the collapse of the USA invest so they will have a means of future barter.

Some invest because they know checking accounts and cash on hand have a tendency to be too easily spent, where gold and silver is not as likely to be quickly spent without a tremendous need.

What is your thinking, goal, and motive for considering investing in gold and/or silver?

Probably this one more than any other.

One of the things I have heard about silver ore, is that there is less and less being found and entering the market. Meanwhile, there is a growing need for it worldwide, as it has many applications. From what I hear, silver has a tremendous potential to exceed gold in value in the soon coming years. I.e. An ounce of silver now selling for $12, might exceed $700 an ounce before long.

Others more in the know than me might be able to discuss this with substance.

Beware of multi level marketing scams that involve buying gold.

Look at the edges of any coin today and they will look like it's part silver and copper. Actually there is very little silver in them. And a penny has very little copper too. After 1964 they minted them with less silver and a penny with less copper.

When I was a kid I collected coins. My grandfather had a block of silver he got from silver certificates. He used to challenge the kids to pick it up from the top (it was shaped like a pyramid) and we could keep it. I used to visit them every christmas back east in Maryland. One year the plane company over booked our flight and as a result we got our tickets for free. My dad gave me that money and put it in a savings account.

Well I was pretty savvy back then I guess and I told my dad I wanted to use the money to buy silver and I was really hoping to get my Grandfathers silver too lol....My dad said no and two weeks later silver went from about 6$ an ounce to 14$ an ounce. I learned later on that my grandfather sold the block long before silver went up. It was well known that silver was not just a currency but it was widely used in things like x-ray films and other things.

I might even buy myself some silver though I was thinking of buying some ETFs in gold too

Growing up my family had a collection of dozens of old (late 1800's era) Silver dollars and other old coins.

My mom had them after my dad died and they god lost at some point. We found a few of them when we moved a year ago but it was just a few. I have not had a chance yet to look and see if they are worth anything.

Story about silver and gold coins
 

Prior to his death in 1970, at the age of 53, my dad was a millionaire geologist. Among other things, he owned two mercury mines north of San Francisco.

At the time of his death, he was dating a woman (Ellen ???) who owned, with her husband, a chain of sporting goods stores in the Bay Area. She obviously did not need more money.

Just prior to his death on a business trip, with her, to Phoenix, AZ, she had him sign a last will and testament giving her everything. Her kids were the witnesses. (quite illegal)

When he died, she had him cremated and the ashes dumped out of an airplane over Phoenix, BEFORE SHE EVER CONTACTED MY SISTER OR MYSELF TELLING OF HIS PASSING. To do this, she needed to state that she was his wife. (quite illegal)

Besides the mines and bank account, she also got his gold and silver coin collection he had hidden in his linen closet. Every sheet, pillow case, towel, etc. was neatly folded. What the onlooker did not know was that between each folded layer of cloth was a layer of gold and silver coins.

• Note - My sister and I both feel dad would not have given her everything unless he wanted to do such. We did not contest the will. We did not have the money to contest it anyway. We had no way to prove she was a murderer, so did not pursue that. We both feel the Lord knows and there will come a judgement day.

Anyway, that is my gold and silver coin story.

Yikes!!

Have you done any research to see what this woman did in the future? If she was a "Black Widow" there might be similar stories either before or after what happened to your dad.

I would assume now that she is either dead or very old since your story happened in 1970 and at that time her kids were of legal age since they witnessed the will leaving here everything.

I have had no other information about the woman. I strongly doubt my sister would have access to any information about her.

The Lord knows.

According to her, the reason she was dating my dad, while married, was that her husband was disabled and dying. Hmmm. Interesting thought you have come up with here.

be careful about who you get to look them over...they may say they are not worth as much as they really are so they can buy them

Wow! That's awful!!